http://www.greenbaynewschron.com/opinion/five.html

By Curt Andersen
Green Bay News-Chronicle

June 27, 2001

The paper industry weevils have been busy lately. It was announced that Appleton Papers and NCR Corp., the Department of Natural Resources and the Environmental Protection Agency had, according to DNR spokesman Bruce Baker, "spent several months of daily nonstop collaboration" to reach a solution to the Fox River PCB problem. 

During World War II, the term "collaborateur" was used to refer to French citizens who sold out to the Nazis. After all the paper industry hoopla about "local solutions" and "citizen participation," they left the public out of the discussion. They will work with everyone but those most affected by the pollution. Multimillion dollar deals with no public hearings? This isn't the first time, either. 

Now that the Republicans own the White House, we have a much different EPA, one that is letting the Fox River polluters get off cheap. The EPA, which was beset by interference from bleeding heart extremists like Misrepresentative Mark Green, R-Green Bay, has given up the game. Now they are embracing our already collaborative DNR and the mills that dumped poison into the Fox River. 

The polluters continually repeat lies and half-truths about the cleanup. They whip up public hysteria about PCB releases during dredging, when the fact is that PCBs are already moving downstream on a daily basis. 

If the vast majority of PCBs are dredged and permanently removed from the river, the daily PCB flow will decline, then stop forever. The polluters also hide the fact that it would take one huge storm and flood to stir up those supposedly "safely buried" PCBs. (Our last huge storm was in 1990.) 

They also fail to discuss the regular channel and marina dredging that occurs every year, sending PCBs downstream. When they have to pay for the dredging, it's bad. When we have to pay for it, it's the right thing to do. 

The Fox River Group of polluters uses phrases like "sound science" when they have no intention of using science that is sound. They hire scientists who will say anything industry wants, all for a nice salary. 

To counter these lies, Clean Water Action Council, as part of the $50,000 EPA Technical Assistance Grant under the Superfund program, is announcing the launch of its new Web site, www.FoxRiverWatch.com, to bring to light as many PCB studies as we could find. The research, including several hundred human health studies, shows that PCBs are connected to much more than just cancer. 

Rebecca Leighton-Katers, executive director of CWAC, stated, "We were surprised by the wide range of human health effects. PCBs could also be contributing to local cases of heart disease, diabetes, thyroid disorders, autoimmune diseases, Parkinson's Disease, and reproductive disorders. 

The Web site explains the history of PCBs since 1865, documenting that Monsanto, Westinghouse and General Electric were already well aware of the PCB toxicity long before Appleton Papers and NCR Corp. began using and dumping PCBs into the Fox River in 1954. The Web site discusses the political and media games played by the corporate equivalent of the Borgia family, including denials of toxicity, misinformation, withholding information, media blitzes, and so forth. Since many people do not have access to computer technology, I will continue to discuss Web site content in future columns. This is more than just another case of industrial pollution. 

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Rebecca Leighton Katers
Clean Water Action Council of N.E. Wisconsin
1270 Main Street, Suite 120 
Green Bay, WI 54302 
Ph: 920-437-7304 
FAX: 920-437-7326
CleanWater@cwac.net
 

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